This week, the first sign of flowers and leaves put me into full Spring mode. My meals have been fresher than ever and I’m feeling on fire energy wise.
It’s about time!
The hot yoga sessions are also helping tremendously. (Thank you, by the way, for your great comments yesterday.) I’ve been to 4 hot yoga sessions now and you could pretty much say that I’m addicted. But, more on that later.
[We need to mow the lawn and weed the garden! eek…it begins]
Yesterday, I was craving an old favourite- the Protein Power Goddess Bowl that I adapted from The Coup Cookbook. I’ve been smitten with this salad since I made it last year and the tahini-Lemon dressing is just to die for!
My mission yesterday was simple: To lighten up this salad for Spring.
I wouldn’t call this salad heavy per say, but I was never crazy about the 1/2 cup of olive oil that the original recipe calls for. I knew with a bit of work, I could create a lighter Tahini dressing that would taste just as tempting as the original.
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Protein Power Goddess Bowl
Yield
6 cups
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This hearty recipe is inspired by a vegetarian restaurant called The Coup in Calgary, Alberta. A rich, tangy lemon-tahini sauce coats chewy French green lentils, spelt berries, and crunchy vegetables. I suggest serving a couple spoonfuls of this recipe on top of a salad or alongside crackers and hummus—a little bit goes a long way.
Ingredients
For the goddess bowl:
- 1 cup uncooked French green lentils (2 to 2 3/4 cups cooked)
- 1 cup uncooked spelt berries or wheat berries (2 cups cooked)
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 medium or large red onion, chopped
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved or 1 large tomato, chopped
- 3 cups packed baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1 batch Lemon-Tahini Dressing
- Fine sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
- Chopped green onion and lemon zest, to garnish (optional)
For the Lemon-Tahini Dressing:
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1/2 cup (125 mL) fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) tahini
- 3 to 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast, to taste
- 3 to 4 tablespoons (15 to 20 mL) extra-virgin olive oil, to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
Directions
- Soak the spelt berries in a bowl of water overnight, or for at least 8 to 12 hours. Drain and rinse well.
- Add the drained spelt berries into a medium pot and cover with a couple inches of water. Bring to a low boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes until tender, but still chewy. Drain excess water.
- Rinse and drain the lentils. Add to a medium pot and cover with a couple inches of water. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil and then immediately reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes until tender, but still a bit chewy. French lentils will hold their shape beautifully and won't break down like regular green or brown lentils. Drain well.
- Prepare the Lemon-Tahini Dressing: Mince the garlic in a mini food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients and process until smooth. Set aside.
- In a large skillet or pot, add the oil, onion, and garlic, along with a pinch of salt. Stir. Sauté over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until the onion softens.
- Stir in the chopped red pepper and tomato and sauté for another 7 to 8 minutes.
- Add the spinach, cooked spelt berries and lentils, and stir to combine. Sauté until just wilted. Remove the pot from the heat.
- Stir in all of the Lemon-Tahini Dressing, and the fresh parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with chopped green onion and lemon zest on top, if desired. This salad is lovely served on top of a leafy green salad, or you can serve it with hummus and crackers on the side too.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Lightening up the Tahini-Lemon dressing was a huge success! I cut down the oil by 75% and the dressing still tasted wonderful.
Here are the changes I made to the lightened up version:
- I added another garlic clove (to make 3) (to add more flava!)
- I added 2-3 more tbsp water (to thin it out more)
I was worried the taste would be compromised but it was just as addicting like I remembered. Even if you don’t want to make this lentil salad, you could always make the dressing and use it for salads all week long. It is truly one of my most loved homemade dressings to date.
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Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing
Adapted from Tahini-Lemon Dressing.
Yield: Just under 1 cup of dressing
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup Tahini
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1/4 cup Nutritional yeast or a bit more, to taste
- 2-4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- 1 tsp kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 3 tbsp water, or as needed
Directions:
1. In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. Makes just under 1 cup.
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Once you cook your desired grains and make the dressing, you simply sauté some vegetables of your choice until tender.
Yesterday, I added Lacinato Kale instead of spinach and I loved it! It’s less bitter than regular kale.
Mix in your grains and dressing.
When it’s all cooked, remove from heat and stir in the minced Parsley for another kick of fresh flavour.
Taste test… Uncontrollably!
Serve with a lemon wedge and zest and you have yourself a protein and fibre packed dinner! It’s creamy & comforting, with a tangy kick that is just irresistible.
This will definitely be my go-to version of this salad from now on. We didn’t miss the 6 tablespoons of oil at all.
Have a good one!
Love Love Love!
I made a couple of changes to adapt to what was in my fridge, but this is the perfect lunch, I made 3 tupperwares to take to work! Warm or cold are both delicious.
I made a version of this tonight, will be eating it for a while! I used the lentils I had and some black wild rice since I had it rather than buy wheatberries or whatever. I added some sunflower seeds I had for crunch. Very filling and healthy and tasty.
I made this today, and because I wasn’t sure of the flavors, I only made half. Well, I really wish I made the full recipe!! It was so good! I even got a thumbs up from my 12 year old (last day of school and home early!!!). When he got home he said he wasn’t hungry for lunch, but I asked him to have a taste and he quickly said he wanted a bowl! It’s going to be my husband’s and my lunch for tomorrow. I make my husband lunch for work every afternoon. This way he can stick to being vegan. We are only vegan for 2 months. I love your blog!!!
This is the first recipe I tried from your blog. Delicious. I substituted what I had on hand including brown rice, broccoli and basil.
OMG! I just made this for lunch today and I’m moaning through each bite! Thanks so much for sharing your healthy foods for the rest of us to try out and devour :)
I’m adding you to my reader this instant and I’m so glad I saw the photo of this dish on Pinterest!
Made this last night with Quinoa instead of spilt berries, because that’s what I had. It was beyond delicious, reminded me of nachos and I don’t know why but it was deceivingly decadent for lentils.
Hi angela!
This looks amazing! Would you mind providing the nutrition info for it? I know you dont usually do that but I am training for a tri and am keeping track of my fueling!
And another winner! I too added hot chili flakes for some zing…to my 2nd helping! Yum, yum, yum.
Thank you for this recipe! My kale is growing like CRAZY and I need new ways to prepare it. (Although I’m completely obsessed with kale chips…)
I made this tonight and let me just tell you…this.was.amazing. I made it without nutritional yeast (because the nearest grocery store didn’t have it) and it still tasted great! I was in heaven!
I was just thinking I should find a good vegan low-oil dressing when I came across this post! I haven’t made the whole thing yet, but I did make the dressing for a salad today. Thanks so much for posting.
My 14 yr. old daughter loves this. We subbed cilantro for parsley. Delish! Also we try to go low-fat in our house. Not because of weight gain (so over that nonsense) but for health reasons (see 80/10/10). Didn’t put any olive oil in the yummy dressy because have all that lovely fat from the tahini already. Just changed ratios slightly. Used less tahini and added more lemon juice and a splash of water. [2 tbsp. tahini, 1 1/2 lemon, 1 garlic clove, splash of water, good amt. of sea salt] Also try to cut down on grains (again not b/c of weight gain – just find we are not suited for grains – even gluten-free ones:) wherever possible and this salad doesn’t need any. Just gorgeous the way it is!
Thanks so much Angela!
Eating this as I write…Love this recipe!!! So hearty and tasty. I will be eating this often :)
Hi,
I’m thinking on making a Kale Salad with some Tahini dressing, I looked up the recipe for the dressing and it says to put in Tahini, i’m a bit confused but I thought the point was to make it? In any case where can I find the most natural starch free tahini? Health food store. I’m excited to try this out. I hope it works out.
I was out of town and needed a quick dinner so I stopped at a natural foods store and picked up a kale salad from their deli. I ate in my hotel room and it was amazing. The dressing tasted just like this and I knew I’d come home and want to make it again. The salad was chopped kale, grated carrots, minced red onion, and chopped cashews, in case you want something else to put that dressing on. It’s my lunch today, lol!
Hi Angela — I have to tell you this is my new favorite recipe. I made it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it. My husband even went back for seconds, which is a pretty big deal. Thanks for sharing and doing what you do!
Thanks for this great recipe! I made this as a cold salad this past weekend and submitted it in our Annual Family Cook-Off and it won 1st prize in the salad category (I won a bottle of wine)! I absolutely LOVE the dressing! The salad was especially good the second day…my husband loved it and my three year-old daughter even ate the rice/lentils (she picked out the veggies). Delish!
I’ve made this several times now, and it is so fantastic!! Love the flavors! It’s my husband’s favorite. Thanks!
Ive made this dressing numerous times, it’s so delicious! But I added nutritional yeast for the first time and it curdled on me? I’m new to using nutritional yeast, do you have any idea what went wrong? I immediately made another batch without the yeast and it turned out fine. The yeast was a couple of months old but I read it can last for 18 months.
Hey Ashley, Are you sure it curdled and it wasn’t just the flakes of yeast making it bumpy? I ask because I’ve noticed that nutritional yeast can make things look a bit clumpy at times. Its usually remedied by a good whisking.
i made this last night with farro and spelt berries and it was AMAZING! i also added carrots, palm hearts, mild green olives, swiss chard, cucumber and avocado on top, and left the veggies raw. thanks for this!